LunaCafe OtherWorldly Mac & Cheese

If there’s a trick to making a perfect Mac & Cheese, besides top-notch ingredients, it’s the proportion of the sauce to the pasta.

Macaroni and Cheese is one of the easiest dishes in the world to prepare and surely one of the most wonderful, which probably accounts for the million-and-one versions that hurried, hungry folks have come up with over the years. (If you read to the end of this post, you’ll get to my rendition, which I alluded to in Quintessential Mac & Cheese, Part 1, a review of the best of all the Mac & Cheese I ate one year in Seattle, Portland, and Boston restaurants, complete with photos.

In case you want more than one fantastic recipe, however, there are fifty or so versions captured for your eating enjoyment in the excellent little cookbook, appropriately titled, Macaroni And Cheese, by Marlena Spieler.

Dishes that will make your mouth water just reading the recipes, such as, The Contessa’s Rigatoni, with porcini mushrooms, Italian sausage, pecorino, and fontina cheeses, and a pinch of fennel. Hey, I would even put on shoes for the opportunity to eat this dish; and me with the feet that beg to be free!

Or how about Macaroni and Cheese “Broccolissimo,” with, you guessed it, broccoli, macaroni, and ooey gooey cheese. Should I mention the Macaroni and Double Asparagus Gratin? I have to stop reading.

But! However wonderful these dishes surely are, the one I am looking for, the one closest to what I consider REAL Macaroni and Cheese is titled, Yankee Doodle Dandy Baked Macaroni and Cheese. Yes! It meets purist’s requirements; namely, a well-considered medley of cheeses (Cheddar, Jack, Blue, and Parmesan are among the options listed), small pasta with a hole or crevice to capture the sauce, well-flavored béchamel sauce, and breadcrumb topping. And to show you how well Ms. Spieler truly understands this dish, she even includes onion and garlic, both of which are a necessity in my opinion. If only all Mac & Cheese could be this well considered.

For instance, some time ago, at a popular Seattle restaurant, I stared with amazement as the server set before me a solid, square brick of congealed cheddar cheese and elbow macaroni. I picked at it, and although the taste was not bad, the gummy texture of the overcooked pasta, the chewy, separated cheese, and the total absorption of what must have been a béchamel sauce at some point in the preparation, ruined the dish.

One of the keys to a great Mac & Cheese is a perfect balance between the pasta and the cheese sauce. You don’t want pasta swimming in sauce, and you don’t want pasta that has absorbed all of the sauce. After much trial and error over the years, I can now say with confidence that 12 ounces of dried pasta to 4 cups of medium-thick béchamel sauce is “just right.” Well, usually anyway (some pastas absorb more sauce than others).

Another key to a great Mac & Cheese is the quality and flavors of the cheeses used. Most of the cheeses should be aged for over 6 months to ensure that they don’t separate and turn gritty when exposed to the heat of the sauce or the oven. All cheese used should be premium. Although you can certainly make Mac & Cheese using leftover cheeses from your frig, this dish merits a shopping expedition for the best local artisan cheeses available in your area.

I find combinations of cheeses with complimentary qualities more interesting than a single cheese–although for my taste, a cheddar should dominate, with the other cheeses playing subordinate roles. Also, a small quantity of not-too-sharp blue cheese adds an appealing tang that most tasters like but cannot accurately identify.

This said, there are fine cooks who will disagree. The Heathman Mac & Cheese in Portland, for instance, intentionally features only Fontina and Parmesan (both of excellent quality). So don’t get too hung up on having all the cheeses I list below. Use good melting cheese–one variety or six varieties–and a little care, and you will end up with an exquisite Mac & Cheese.

LunaCafe OtherWorldly Mac & Cheese

If there’s a trick to this Mac & Cheese, besides the emphasis on top-notch ingredients, it’s the proportion of the sauce to the pasta. Way more than most recipes call far, which prevents the pasta from absorbing all of it and becoming dry and clumpy while baking.

Coat a 6-cup capacity, ovenproof casserole with vegetable spray or a dab of butter. Reserve.

Make the breadcrumb topping

In a small mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, bread crumbs, and garlic. Reserve.

Cook the pasta

Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil, add 2 teaspoons of salt, return to a boil, and add the pasta.

Cook until just barely tender with a bit of chewiness remaining.

Remove the pasta pot from the stove and carefully pour the water and pasta into a large colander to drain. Run cold water over the pasta to cool it to room temperature. Add pasta to a large mixing bowl.

Toss the pasta in the bowl with all of the cheeses and reserve.

Make the béchamel sauce

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, add the onions, and slowly cook until onions are softened but not browned. Add the garlic and stir to combine.

Stir in the flour, and cook without browning for two minutes.

Slowly pour in the milk and whisk constantly while bringing the sauce to a simmer. Simmer, whisking continuously, for 2 minutes.

Pour the sauce over the pasta and cheeses in the bowl. With a large spatula, fold to combine.

Spoon into the prepared casserole, mounding slightly at the center.

Sprinkle on the breadcrumb topping.

Bake at 350º for 30-40 minutes until heated through and bubbling. Broil for a minute or two to finish browning the top.

Yum! That sounds great, especially on a slightly grey dreary day like today. I’ve never been great at making mac n cheese at home (other than from a box!) because like you said, the sauce doesn’t quite get the right texture to be gooey and cheesy and not congealed or lumpy. I’ll have to give this a try!Erin recently posted…Thursday Tours: Lunch + Brunch Mashup

My favorite mac and cheeses always have a medley of different cheeses and usually one of them is always funky like a blue in order to create an interesting combination of cheeses. Besides the ratio of cheese to pasta, it’s also very important that there are crispy burnt bits!Pech recently posted…The Little Paris Bookshop Review

I love mac and cheese. Half my dinners are just variations on the theme. By far the best noodle, I think, is shells, because you end up with cheese in the pockets like impromptu tortellini.Cyra recently posted…How To Make Instant Coffee Better

Looks like a just win win for all the mac and cheese lovers out there, I like that your recipe is not only a classical mac and cheese you add all the veggies and spices to this and create a whole satisfying comfort meal.Florian recently posted…Vegan Pepperoni Pizza

I have to tell you, I made this for our New Year’s Eve party this year! It was fabulous!! The best Mac-n-cheese I’ve ever eaten, much less made myself! Thank you for your time in working out this recipe!

Thanks Maggie, meg.kat, and Hillary! 🙂 Hope you get a chance to try this. It’s so amazingly good.

I’m now working on a spicy chile version (inspired by Robert McGrath of the Roaring Fork restaurant in Scottsdale, but oven-baked, with the addition of a creamy bechamel and lots more cheese). Check back for that.

[…] first roundup, see the post, Quintessential Mac & Cheese Roundup 2008. Also check out the post, LunaCafe OtherWorldly Mac & Cheese, which features the absolute best, repeatedly tested recipe in the universe. I swear! And if you […]

[…] Here, then, are eleven of the most noteworthy results thus far, in no particular order. The intention was to strike a balance between fancy-schmancy and let’s-eat-already venues. You can also want to check out the recipe for LunaCafe’s OtherWorldly Mac & Cheese. […]